The ticking bomb
by FourandeightStars
Summary: This story takes place at the end of chapter 267 and is about what happens after. It is written as one completed story, but I have selected in progress in case I want to add to the story. Rating T is to cover future chapters, the first one is only k .
1. Unexpected results - the bombshell

**Thank you everyone for reading. This story starts at the end of chapter 267. It is written as one complete story, but at the end I felt that I might want to write more chapters therefore the status is in progress. **

**It is my first fan-fiction ever, so please feel free til grill me like Ren does Kyoko ;-) **

**I do not own any of the Skip Beat characters or the story, I am just a mere fan.**

"..._wood half burned is easily kindled. Even if it were a man who you swore revenge against, no would be surprised if you feel in love with him again_."

Even though it had been several minutes since the car had stopped none of its passengers had yet opened a door to air out some of the heavy feelings inside the vehicle. It was like the words echoed inside the walls of the car and amplified the silent response the longer it went on.

Yashiro could see the hurt expression on Kyokos face in the rearview mirror, he did not want to interfere in something that so clearly did not concern anyone but the two of them. Yet he felt like he had to just to break the awful silence soon. Then kyoko spoke.

"Are you serious?" Kyokos voice sounded sad and hurt but there was also a hint of something else. Ren seemed to have noticed this as well, while his expression was still cold he moved himself a bit in the seat to face her more.

"Why else would you keep letting this man be such a large part of your life? Calling you, you wait for him to show at your house - you have let him kiss you twice now." Just thinking about it made his expression even colder. He did not want behave this way, but it hurt him so much that he could not breach her walls and be anything more than a senpai, while this guy who walked right over her, used her, demeaned her had such a special place in her heart, that he had free access to go inside these walls as he wished. It hurt so much that this was the only way he knew how to behave without losing it.

Kyoko was dumbfounded by this question. Shotaro was not a large part of her life? He occupied such a small piece of her mind, she did not love him and neither did she hate him, but without him she would not have been where she was today. Kyoko did not want to let go of that, she wanted to use all of her past to become an actor good enough to work alongside Ren and Moko.

"I take your silence as your answer." Rens cold voice pierce Kyokos mind.

"No, I.. you are wrong…" Kyoko managed to stutter, she did not know how to explain this to him, the cold look in his eyes felt like a billion sharp knives piercing her heart.

Ren ignored her answer. "I think we are at your shoot, you should not make your colleagues wait." he wanted her out of the car.

This was Yashiros que to open the front door and go out of the car to let Kyoko out, it was nice to be out of the car and he felt it would be best if Kyoko also got leave the confinement. However when he opened the car door she did not move, instead she kept look at Ren who did not look at her anymore.

"Are you a complete idiot?!" It busted out of her. Before she was hurt, but now she was pissed in addition, he had the audacity to question her about Sho but would not even listen to her answer? Did he not even respect her enough to listen to her answer?

Both Yashiro and Ren looked shocked at her outburst, but before any off them could say anything she stepped out the car.

"You might be my senpai but you have no right to assume what I feel! Especially when you fall for girls like…" Kyoko stopped herself, she had made a promise that she would not tell Tsugara-san about Kiminko. Instead she turned to Yashiro.

"Thank you so much for the ride Yashiro-san I am very grateful that _you_ picked me up, I can walk to the shoto from here." Then she left them without another look at Ren. The two men looked after her as she walked away with an amazing speed.

"You know Ren, despite your looks you really know how to make a woman run away." Yashiro looked at Ren in rearview mirror, he looked tired as he left the car to move to the front seat. Ren normally always sat in the front seat, but insisted on sitting in the back seat because they were picking up Kyoko. Yashiro knew how much he had looked forward to seeing her, he therefore decided not to pester him further about what had happened. Especially since the man now sitting next to him had a very pained expression.

They were about halfway to Rens shoot when Ren spoke up.

"I am the worst aren't I?"

"Well you are definitely not the best, but I get seeing the girl you love with someone else is hard." Yashiro really wanted to ask about the kiss and picture but he did not want to remind Ren of it again.

"She is never going to speak to me again." Ren looked completely empty, he was sure that he had finally managed to drive her away. Maybe that is what he wanted? He had gotten too greedy lately when it came to her, their play as Cain and Setsu, the wine jelly, he even stole a kiss from her as Corn. Somehow he had managed to believe that he had a chance. That his existence had become something special to her, that maybe when she was ready to love again she would look his way. Seeing her laughing with Fuwa had made all of this hope go away, because despite everything he had done to her this man was still so close her. Yes maybe it was a good thing that he had pushed her away, because if he had even the slightest bit of hope that she would one day look his way - then he would wait for her forever.

"I do not think that is the case." Yashiro said. "You just need to man up apologize and be honest with her. When you show your true feeling like today, even though I don't think you were in the right, Kyoko-chan responded to you as a person not a senpai."

"Yashiro I do not want to push her for something that she is not ready for."

"Okay, but if you treat and protect her like a Kohai then you will not get any closer to her. That Fuwa-boy surely do not put up a front with her and you can see that it is working. You would…" Yashiro's rant was interrupted.

"What did she mean when she said especially when you fall for girls like?" Ren looked puzzled, what Yashiro said made him think of the meaning behind her words.

"I think I know what she meant." Yashiro answered, as he parked the car in front of the studio. "However Ren work is calling and Kyoko-chan would definitely not forgive you if you let her get in the way of your work."

\- at Daruma later the same day -

Kyoko threw herself onto the futon she did not have time to pack this morning. It had been a horrible day, even though they only practiced some of the combat scenes, she had not been able to get into character properly. Luckily the producer and director was not there for the practice, it was just an instructor that cared more about the material arts than the acting, but tomorrow it was the real deal and she would have to pull herself together.

After looking at the ceiling for a while, she went over to corn but decided against using him, for some reason she felt that the magic of the stone would not apply to this situation. Instead she wandered around the room not knowing what to do. She kept hearing Tsuruga-san accuse her of being in love Shotaro and him deining to listen properly to her answer. Over and over again she had tried to reason why he would react like this, but she kept coming up empty handed. At some point she had actually been so shameless to consider if Tsuruga-san had feelings for her - this was of course completely crazy, not only did he love someone else, there was also no way he would ever consider her as anything but a kohai and even if she could look past that it would still make no sense for him to talk about her loving Shotaro.

The pain in her chest was getting unbearable. She knew that he could never look her way and she had decided that she would just treasure her love for him all on her own. Yet she felt awful and frustrated.

After walking around her table a couple of more times she decided to go downstairs and offer to help the owners. They refused her first but after she kept insisting they let her work. This turned out to be a good decision for both parties as a large group of drunk businessman walked into the establishment shortly after. They managed to keep Kyoko plenty busy until it was close to midnight.

"Thank you for your help Kyoko-chan, I am so sorry to keep you up this late, you can go to bed now." Okami-san said as they were finishing up.

"That is no problem I am happy to help." Kyoko smiled at Okami-san, but the thought of going back to being alone with her thoughts made the pain in her chest return. After thinking a bit Kyoko said: "Okami-san I think I will go out for some fresh air."

Okami-san looked worried at her "Are you okay, it is almost midnight?"

"Yes, don't worry I will not be out long, I just think I need some fresh air before I can sleep."

"But…" Okami-san started but got interrupted by Taisho who had just entered from the kitchen: "Fresh air is always good when you have something clouding your mind. It blows the clouds away. Lock up when you get back." With a small nod he and Okami-san left for bed.

Kyoko was grateful for what Taisho had said, she was simply not ready to go to sleep. On the way out she took a look at the clock hanging on the wall - 23:53, it was almost a new day.

"Tomorrow I will have peace in my mind." Kyoko said to herself as she put her jacket on and went outside.

*Clonk* Kyoko walked right into something tall and hard. She looked up.

"Tsu...ruga-san..?" What was he doing standing right in front of the door to Daruma?

Ren looked down at Kyoko. Why did she have to come out right at this second? He had been just about to go back to his car, realising that he must have had a stroke showing up in front of her home at this hour.

"Morgami-san, I am sorry I was just about to leave." He said awkwardly and took a step back so she could exit the door properly.

"Why are you here?" The shock of seeing him made her forget about earlier that day.

"I wanted to.. apologize for earlier, but then I saw how late it was." He said hoping she would believe that he had not knowingly come to see her this late.

Suddenly a sound made them both jump, and Ren realised how it would look if anybody found him this late in front of a woman's apartment.

"Mogami-san I know it is late but would you come with me?" He gestured to the car. Kyoko nodded still slightly confused and they both went in. Once the car had driven around the corner from Daruma, Kyoko started to realise what was happening, shocked she looked at Ren who did not look cold like this morning, yet if she was not mistaken slightly sad.

"I know it is imprudent of me to steal you away this late, I will drive you back soon… I just wanted to make sure that we are okay." He did not look at Kyoko but had his eyes fastened on the road, this was a good thing because Kyoko could not help but to turn pink at these words. She wanted to say to him that they were good, that she had forgiven him the moment she saw him outside of Daruma, but something held her back.

"We are not okay." She said slowly. Ren felt his heart fall into his stomach, for some reason he could not make himself look at her.

"What you said today about Shotaro, do you really think that?" She asked, she had to know. Ren was silent a bit before he answered.

"It is… because I know how much that man used to mean to you." He began.

"Used to." Kyoko said softly. The softness of her voice surprised Ren and he finally turned to look at her. She looked cute with her hair in a small ponytail, she had probably been working a the shop just until he arrived, however he could not read her expression. Now that he had finally looked at her properly, he realised how bad the car was for their conversation, so he started to look for a parking lot.

"Your hair look cute when it is up." He said and almost hit a lamppost tuning a corner when he saw her reaction, her cheeks immediately became a dark rose color making her look even cuter. _It is stuff like this that is giving me that false hope_ Ren thought as he also noted to himself that maybe it was for the better, that his hands were preoccupied by the wheel.

"Tsugara-san that is not what we are talking about!" Kyoko said flustered, how dare he make such a sneak attack on her?

"No I know, and I am sorry. I just wanted you to know that it was understandable if you feel back in love with that man." His voice hardened a bit with the words he said.

"I will not." Kyoko said firmly.

"Yes, but.."

"I will not." Kyoko repeated.

"How can you be so sure?" He asked her seeking more conformation to steady his heart.

"Because…" Kyoko paused and took a deep breath before she continued "Because I know my heart."

"And.." She said before Ren could say anything "If you want us to be okay you need to accept that." She looked into his eyes with a firm gaze that Ren did not recognise.

"I accept that." He gave in and as he said it, it felt like the many hands that had been holding a firm grip around his heart slowly one by one let go until there was only one that refused to release its grip. As Ren realised what he would have to do, he slowly parked the car on a deserted parking space.

"Do you want to get some fresh air before I drive you back?" He asked, preferring to have the conversation he needed to initiate face to face. They went out of the car and walked to a nearby tree that shielded them from potential onlookers. The air was that of a cold summer night, while it was not possible to see any stars dues to the city light, one could still feel their presence in the air.

Kyoko looked at Ren and wondered why he had proposed for them to leave the car instead of just driving her back, especially since it seemed to her that they had made up.

"Kyoko." He said and she almost jumped hearing him say her first name, she must have heard wrong, however, when she looked up at him to ask ,he had a pained expression that silenced her completely.

"I have to tell you something."

"What is it?" She asked worried about his grave look.

"I kissed another woman.. or well to be exact I was kissed." He had felt bad about being so mad at her for letting Fuwa kiss her, even though he had let his guard down as well.

_Why is he telling me this?_ Kyoko thought trying to ignore the piercing feeling in her heart. As she looked at him slightly confused, she realised what she had let slip this morning, maybe because of what she said Tsuruga-san had realised that she knew he was in love with Kimiko and now he was telling her this, because he was worried that Kimiko would find out?

"Did you initiate the kiss in any way?" Kyoko asked, thinking that she could not (despite wanting to) blame Tsuruga-san for getting kissed when she herself had had two kisses stolen from that childish bastard.

"No.. well it was after I had seen the photo of you and Fuwa, and I might have had a bit to drink." Ren explained surprised by her answer and slightly disappointed by the reaction, she really had no interest in him.

"Then I do not think Kimiko will get mad." _Also because she is in love with another man _Kyoko thought to herself.

"That is gre… wait what? Who is Kimiko?" Ren said confused. Then he recalled that Yashiro had told him that he suspected Kyoko might think that Ren was in love with some actress called Kimiko, however, Ren had quickly dismissed that theory as there was absolutely no way that Kyoko would have reason to believe him to be in love with this actres he barely remembered having encountered. As it turned out he had completely underestimated how dense this girl was.

"The girl you love." Kyoko said unable to hide all of the pain she felt saying this outloud. Ren noticed this immediately and the hope in his heart was suddenly bigger than ever. He had to clear this misunderstanding.

"I do not love anybody called Kimiko, if I recall correctly she is just someone I once worked on a drama with? Why would you think I love her?"

Kyoko looked at him confused, she did not understand what he was saying "But she said.. and the ring.." she heard herself say.

"I do not understand what you mean, I have never given any woman jewelry - except for Maria-chan if you want to count her." He hesitated a bit before he added "and the flower ring which you called me despicable for."

Kyoko looked at him shocked before she bursted out true Kyoko style "I AM SO SORRY!"

"No it is okay, I guess it would be dispicable of me to give you that ring if I had feelings for another woman." Ren said, not really thinking much about what he had just said because of the relief of knowing why she had called him despicable.

This however started a ticking bomb in kyokos mind.

"We should head back the owners of the shop will be worried if you are out much longer." Ren said, before Kyoko had a chance to answer him. _Tick-Tock_

Both of them went back to the car both relieved by the fact that they had managed to make up. _I will have a much easier time acting tomorrow _Kyoko thought taking little notice of the ticking sound in the back of her mind. _Tick-Tock_

One the way back they talked about Kyokos new role as Momiji and about the shoot in Guam, they smiled and laughed in all sense it was a peaceful time. _Tick-Tock_

Once the back in front of the Daruma store Ren walked her to the front door, normally he would have not gone out of the car, but it had been such a bizarre day and he was enjoying spending this calm time with her just the two of them. Even thought it was late he wished that she did not have to go. Without thinking he took a strand of her lose hair from the messy ponytail into his hand. _Tick-Tock_

"You play a lot of very beautiful roles but seeing you like this is my favorite." he was indeed getting greedy, seeing her become flustered beyond reason was very very dangerous. Although it was distracting with that ticking noise only getting louder. _Tick-Tock_

"What are you talking about?" Kyoko said flustered: "Your eyes must be getting bad because you are tired." She could not help but to feel that she had seen a lot of different sides to Ren over the past 24 hours. _Tick-Tock_

"Goodnight Tsuruga-san" She said, not giving him an option to answer her remark, her heart could only take so much in one night. _Tick-Tock_

"Goodnight Morgami-san" _Tick-Tick-Tock_

She watched him drive away in his car. _Tick-Tick-Tick-Tick.._

*BANG*

The explosion inside Kyokos head was so big that it it rippled through her body almost making it impossible for her to stand.

_NO WAY IT CANNOT BE.._ she thought.

\- Somewhere in Tokyo -

"These pictures are going to make us rich." One man said.

"You really think it is ethical to show these without consent?" The other asked.

"We are talking about one of Japan's biggest stars here, and on top of that he has never had a scandal before. Now we have him driving away with a younger actress late at night and returning with her an hour later."

"Okay I get it.. make some more research and this will be the front page next week."

"I am on it boss."


	2. Unexpected results - the aftermath

**Thank you for your comments on the previous chapter, hope you like this continuation :-)**

It was worse than he had feared.

When Yashiro showed up at exactly 7.30 to pick up Kyoko the sight that met him was horrendous. The girl had tick baggy eyes and looked more like ghost ready to haunt who ever killed her. He blamed Ren. Yashiro had been sure that this big bodied man in love would have cleared the air by now, in fact he would not have put it past him to do something completely stupid such at show up at her door late at night. Apparently he was wrong and now he would have to channel all his 'super-manager' abilities to get Kyoko into a stable-state so she could act out Momiji without getting herself fired. This felt like a challenge worthy of his abilities. _I love my job_ he thought to himself.

As she neared the car her heart leapt thinking that Ren might be joining their ride again today, but to her relief Yashiro gestured for her to sit in the front seat.

"Good morning Kyoko-chan"

"Good morning Yashiro-san" Kyoko said as she got into the car.

"Are you still bothered by what happened with Ren?" He asked, having decided that going straight to the point was the best strategy, if he wanted this girl to become herself before they arrived at the location for the shoot.

Kyoko immediately became flustered. _Now that was a weird reaction _Yashito thought.

"No.. well… not bothered… per say.. just.. I have a hard time… believing it." Kyoko said flustered wondering how Yashiro knew about Tsurugas late visit. She was so preoccupied by her thoughts of the previous night, that it did not occur to her that Yashiro was actually referring to what had happened the morning before.

"I would not think to much about it Kyoko-chan. Ren really cares about you, you are his precious kohai" Yashiro said, he really wanted to say to her how much Ren loved her, but figured that it was not his place to say - and that a deleclartion like that would most likely end with Kyoko in a shape no fit to act, and that was not what she needed right now.

"Precious kohai.." Kyoko repeated, for her even that level affection seemed unbelievable. Why would she be someone precious to a man like him? She could maybe accept Yashiros point about her being a kohai that he paid extra attention to and in that sense cared more for.. But to go from that to him being in lo… no, she could not even finish that sentence anymore, it made no sense what he had said the day before - maybe he had misspoken? Or maybe he had fallen out of love with whomever he had mentioned to Bo? Her mind was continuing to spiral as it had done the entire night, leaving her with no sleep.

"Kyoko-chan.." Yashiro looked at her slightly terrified, she looked like she was thinking so hard that her brain could explode at any second. ".. I can see that you are quite bothered by that incident, and I wish there were something I could do about it, but I think it is bedst if you work that out with Ren."

*Gasp* Kyoko hand flew to her face. Just the mere thought of talking to Ren about this she could die.

Yashiro signed he would need to use even harder methods to get her in shape before the shoot. He knew that there were one sure way to get her back in focus, but he had never performed the act himself before, however, for Kyoko-chan he would do it. He took a deep breath - it was time to prune the tree.

"Kyoko-chan. You are being an irresponsible actress." He said with the strictest voice he could master. Kyoko looked at him surprised.

"You have been in several dramas and in the business for over a year now, but you are behaving like it is your very first day! Instead of worrying about your personal life, you should take better care of yourself and try to get into character. A lot of people have worked and rooted for you to get this role, do not let them down by acting unprofessionally." He peaked at Kyoko to see if his words have had the effect they needed.

She looked shocked at first but then it seemed like his words took effect.

"I am so sorry." Kyoko bowed as deeply as the seatbelt allowed. "And thank you very much. I will be professional from now on." Yashiro was right she was acting unprofessionally, she needed to get herself together if she wanted to be top-class actress. Kyoko closed her eyes took a deep breath and calmed down one percent at a time, however, when she reacted 97 percent she hit at wall. _I will have to make due with this._

It was clear to him that Kyoko had calmed down remarkably during the last part of their trip, and Yashiro was sure that she would be able to act in satisfactory way, despite that she had adapted a curious tick. About every two minutes her face would shortly distort itself before going back to normal. Yet Yashiro believed that with her acting ability even the tick would disappear once she went into character.

\- Somewhere in Tokyo -

Tanaka looked through his research. He had not slept a wink, once he found out that the woman Tsuruga Ren had collected late at night was not just anybody, it was his Dark Moon co-star Kyoko, then his curiosity took over. The young actress had only been in the business for a little more than a year, yet she had already had several remarkable roles.

_Sleeping our way to the top are we Kyoko-chan?_ He thought to himself, not completely convinced that her relationship with Tsuruga Ren was all she owed her career to. The girl was good. Tanaka took pride in his ability to remember the face of people in show business, even the newcomers, it was his special ability, and what made him one of the infamous gossip reporters in the city. Yet he had not been able to recognize this girl despite having seen the entire Dark Moon series, the Curara commercial and Fuwas PV for Prisoner. It pissed him off to no extent. He loaded actors the most of all people in show business, those two faced beings so skilled at lying they had made it their career. Nothing brought him greater joy than to uncover a scandal or catch them in one of their lies showing the world the true face of these people.

_I am going to take you down Kyoko._

-Later that same day-

*Bzzzzzt*

Ren looked at his phone and saw a message from Yashiro.

I thought you would have made up with Kyoko by now. You should have seen her when I picked her up today. Shame on you. Please make up with her soon.

This message confused Ren as he was sure they had been on good terms when he had left her the previous day. Also for Yashiro to actually put on all his protection gear to text him, it must have been very serious, his manager very rarely texted.

_This makes no sense_ he thought as he went over the night before in is head. He was aware that he might have let his feelings slip when they talked about the flower ring, but that could just as well has been interpreted as if he did not have feelings for anybody, and he had never mentioned having feeling for anybody to her. No that could not be it, she was also acting normal in the car, it must have been the compliment he gave in front of the door. Yet, for her to act in a manner that would drive Yashiro to texting was still odd.

_It must be because I said something a senpai should not say. I went too far trying to beat that Fuwa boy and now she is confused. _Ren thought about her extreme reaction to the kiss he gave her on the cheek.

Ren picked up his phone to write something that might smooth over the compliment, but put it back on the table as he remembered what Yashiro had said the day before: _if you treat and protect her like a kohai then you will not get any closer to her. _

"Having love trouble again?" A voice sounded and Ren looked up.

"Kijima what are you doing here?"

"The shoot is starting again."

"Okay I am coming" Ren said and followed his colleague.

"You know Ren in the past you would never check your phone during a shoot, now you look at it in all your breaks, you even get so distracted that you get hurt walking into doorways." Kijima said as they walked back to the shoot. "Love sure is hard on you. You know I used to be quite envious of you, now I thank god that I am not in your shoes."

"I am sorry that I am such a pitiful being to you." Ren said kind of insulted.

"No, not pitiful… human. I like you a lot better as you are now." As he said it Kijima walked onto the set and into character, and Ren followed suit.

\- Two days later at LME HQ -

"Director Ortega please calm down what are you saying?" Lory said.

"I think the Eel is after Ren and Kyoko!" Director Ortega stammed into the phone.

"The Eel? What makes you say that?"

"He called me just now asking questions about Dark Moon, he tried to make it sound like he was doing research on an article about the show, but the questions he asked about Kyoko and Ren made me doubt that this was all, so I thought he should call you."

"It is a good thing that you called Director. If this is true then I will have to go now, excuse me." Lory hung up the phone and stared out into the air for a short while.

It could not be. He had been so careful with those two, but if the Eel was on to them then he would have to take this very seriously. Granted the Eel was not the coolest nickname ever given, but the guy had only entered the business four years ago, all the good nicknames had been taken by the gossip scum before him - what was impressive was the speed in which he had made a name for himself in the business. By his first year he had already ruined the carriers of two actresses and one pop singer, and many others had taken a big hit. This guy did not mess around and he was permanently banned from any LME building, and Lory knew that this was also the case for other agencies.

_Is he after Ren or Kyoko? Maybe even both of them? _Lory pondered as he walked around. So far the Eel had not managed to take down anybody represented by LME, however, last year he severely hurt Kimiko Kamio's career. Granted the actress had become rude and selfish in her later years, but she was still brilliantly talented and only barely (with the assistance of LME) managed to make a recovery. Lory picked up his phone.

"Hello sir." Ruto said, having picked up the phone right away.

"Ruto please see if you can find out what kind of story the Eel is working on." Lory said to his loyal henchman.

"Should I continue my current assignment as well?"

"No, this will need all your focus for the next couple of days."

"Understood sir."

\- In the LME canteen same day -

"I thought we already made up." Ren said.

"We did!" Kyoko said a little louder than intended.

"Then why are you sitting over there?" Ren pointed a the almost comically large distance Kyoko had managed to put between them. Ren was sitting at one table, and Kyoko at a completely different one two tables away, this was odd especially as Yashiro had arranged for them to have a late lunch here together.

"I like this table better!" Kyoko said, again a little louder than she wanted, she was panicking slightly. She was not ready to face Ren. These past two days she had avoided his calls, and only given short replies to his texts. It had only been when Yashiro had set up a lunch meeting stating that they should make up, that she could not escape anymore.

Ren left his table to go and sit across from Kyoko. Their odd table discussion was already attracting more attention than he wanted.

"I need to get some water." Kyoko said, and got up to leave the small table with way to little space between them. However, before she could leave Ren grabbed her hand.

"Can we please sit and talk?" He gave her a look that made her melt back in her chair.

"You are upset with something I said the other night." Ren said in a whisper, so that a because a group of young actresses passing them could not hear.

"No." Kyoko said half preoccupied with the fact that he had not yet let go of her hand. Ren quickly noticed and pulled away his hand.

"Sorry."

They sat in silence for while. Kyoko did not know what to say, in many ways she wanted to confirm her suspicion, but if it turned out that this man had feeling for her she would not know what to do. Instead she said:

"Thank you for the white day gift. I am sorry, that I have not thanked you earlier, by some accident I only received the letter yesterday."

"Oh.. you received it, I am happy that you like it." Ren said slightly confused. He had forgotten about the lack of reply on his gift. "I hope the special promotion is still available."

"Yes, I saw Kanae yesterday and I think we might be able to go together before the special event is over."

"I am very happy to hear that. I actually also met Kotonami-san yesterday too." He said recalling the short weird conversation he had with her. "She pulled me aside just before lunch, said she had to ask me something, but before she could ask, it seemed that she changed her mind. She said 'never mind I am not going to get involved, just don't be an idiot.' - did you say something to her?"

"No.." Kyoko said confused, it did not sound like Kanae to act like that. "I do not know why she would say that."

"I think it is because she is trying to protect you." Ren said, he had not shared the last thing that Kotonami said before she left.

'_If you hurt her, then I do not care if you are the most famous man in Japan, I will punch you in your face.'_

"Why would she try and protect me?" Kyoko said even more confused, she knew that she might have been acting a bit strange yesterday, but not enough to cause alarm.

Ren smiled a bit before he said: "Because she is a good friend."

To this Kyoko smiled broadly and said "the best friend in the whole world."

This made Ren stand up immediately. "My phone is ringing, you will have to excuse me."

Kyoko watched Ren as he went to the far end of the cafeteria to take the "phone call". She thought about the weird conversation between Kanae and Ren, but also about how quickly their conversation had turned normal, pleasant, despite how she was feeling when she had first seen him. This had also been the case the other night. She could feel herself getting greedy, talking together completely normal as if they were equals.

From the other end of the cafeteria Ren was holding up his phone pretending to be in a conversation. His need to touch her was getting worse, just from that smile she gave him, it took all he had to hold back. Embarrassed he ended his fake phone call and returned to the table.

"You must be busy." Kyoko said when he returned. "I am sorry to take up so much of you time."

"Don't be, I was the one who wanted to meet." Ren said, but he did not sit back down. He felt that their conversation was turning towards an end, something he was not ready for yet. _I will have to suggest something I swore I would never do again.._ He thought

"Have you had lunch yet?" Kyoko said, beating Ren to the point.

"No, not yet." He lied.

"Good me neither." She lied as well.

They went to the cafeteria, and both picked out as little food as possible which still could be considered lunch.

"You should eat more." Kyoko said, looking at the apple and single onigiri on Ren's tray.

"I had a big breakfast - and you are one to talk!" On Kyokos tray there were only a small helping of dumplings.

"I am on a diet." Kyoko lied, in fact she had to eat a lot these days to keep up with the training for her role as Momiji.

"You do not need to diet!" It burst out of Ren.

"That means nothing coming from you mister model." Kyoko gestured towards Ren's body as they sat back down at their table. "I saw how perfect your body looked."

"So you were looking." He said thinking about the many times she had disturbed him midt shower when they were acting as the Heel siblings.

"No… well not at all of it!" Kyoko said before she could regret the words.

"You do have a precise knowledge on my measurements, you recognized me immediately" Ren commented.

Kyoko did not know how to reply, it felt odd to explain that she had several Ren shaped dolls at home, just like the one she gave to Maria-chan.

"Is this something you do with everyone that you know?" Ren asked before she could say anything.

"No.. not really." She had not made any other true-to-measurements dolls, the Sho-doll was somewhat correct, but she had not felt like looking at an exact version of Sho, so instead it had taken a bit more of a chibi shape.

"Does this mean that I am special?" Kyoko could not read the expression on Ren's face as he said this.

"Of course you are! You are the most talented actor in Japan, and you are my mentor…"

"That is not what I meant." Ren interrupted.

Kyoko looked around the cafeteria was getting more crowded, it seemed that some big meeting in the singer devision had just ended. It was becoming hard to keep their conversation private. Ren seemed to notice that too.

"Let's go it is almost time for Yashiro to pick me up for my next shoot anyways. If you want we can drop you off at your next location."

They left the cafeteria and went down the stairs to the main hall, both of them deep in thought. It was so close, the two of them having their feelings exposed, and they were very much aware of this. However, as they walked across the main hall they both realised, that they had so many things to tell the other, important things that needed to be sorted before they could finish the conversation that started in the cafeteria.

"Do you need a lift?" Ren asked, when they could see Yashiro and the car further down the parking lot.

"No I am fine, thanks." Kyoko said knowing that her next shoot was playing Bo. They both stopped moving towards Yashiro.

"Kyoko, I want to talk with you alone - soon." He looked at her, hoping that the use of her first name would give her some sort of signal of this conversation. Kyoko nodded, she could not get the words out, the use of her first name without honorifics made her heart beat so fast she was worried it would break her chest.

"This Saturday - May 25th, I will pick you up after work."

\- Saturday - May 25th early morning -

It is just around five in morning at the local kiosk. One man goes out to get the daily delivery of magazines and sees the large pile of Boost magazine in the delivery guys hands.

"No, no I do not need that many magazines, people do not buy them anymore, just twenty as we agreed."

"Trust me, with this headline they will sell, we have tripled everyone's load today. Check it out." The delivery guy hands over one of the magazines to the store owner.

On the cover: TSURUGA REN'S LOVER REVEALED

**Note: I had a lot of fun matching the ending with the current ending of chapter 269, despite the quite different road of getting there ;-)**


End file.
